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Hai
"Living on their doorstep? Of course I do. Why do you think the Navy maintains such a large base on Farpoint in the first place? It's not like the human anarchists up north pose that much of a threat." -Admiral Danforth, Wanderers: Alpha Surveillance F The Hai are an alien species that resides in a separate group of colonies to the east of the Far North. Uniquely, it is one of the first alien species you can visit without a jump drive, via the wormhole that links Ultima Thule to Waypoint. They are generally friendly to humans, letting them coexist with them. They are squirrel-like, but are around the size of humans. They are apparently extremely long-lived compared to humans, as one "elderly-looking Hai" claims to be hundreds of years old. There are now about 40 billion Hai. The Hai are not completely peaceful. They are split into two factions: the regular, peaceful Hai, and the "Unfettered Hai." The term "Hai" generally refers to their peaceful faction, the one closer to the wormhole. The Unfettered constantly attack the Hai for resources and territory, forcing the Hai to fight back in self-defense. History The Hai developed spaceflight in about 117,000 B.C.E and they reached the peak of their empire at about 97,000 B.C.E. We know that the Hai empire expanded up to what is now Wanderer space and all the way out to the Deep. They had a period of civil wars stretching 5,000 years, from 92,000 B.C.E to 87,000 B.C.E. About when those wars ended, the Hai decided that they would be better off with a small collection of systems than with a large empire. They pulled out of what was to become human space and the ruined northern territories. Several centuries ago, the Hai were invaded by an alien species, the Korath. To protect their homelands, some brave Hai, who would later become the Unfettered, rose up to resist the invaders. The invasion lasted for decades, but then abruptly ended in about 2820. Most Hai were glad to return to their peaceful lives, but some Hai found life to be boring and meaningless without the excitement and unpredictability of war, and so they settled worlds in the extreme north of Hai space, forming their own faction, the Unfettered Hai. During the raids, the Hai were visited by "humans": the Alphas. Because of the their extreme innate hostility towards other species, the Alphas tried to take advantage of the Hai, whom they deemed to be weak because of their peacefulness, but were overwhelmed and banned from Hai space. Later, the Hai were visited by regular humans, who showed the Hai that not all humans are evil. Attributes The Hai resemble human-sized squirrels. They are very energetic, and prefer chaotic lands over calm worlds. All of the Hai ships are named after some type of invertebrate creature that may or may not make up part of a Hai diet. Technology The Hai are designed to be a "tier 1.5" race, roughly in between tier 1 races like humans and tier 2 races like the Wanderers, although some players consider them to be closer to "tier 1.1." Ships: Transport * Centipede Light Freighter: *Aphid Heavy Freighter: *Water Bug *Geocoris Interceptor * Grasshopper Light Warship: *Lightning Bug Medium Warship: *Pond Strider Heavy Warship: *Shield Beetle *Solifuge *Tzetze (upcoming) Fighter: *Violin Spider Drone: *Flea Outfits: Weapons: *Ion Cannon *Pulse Cannon *Pulse Turret *Hai Tracker Pod **Hai Tracker **Tracker Storage Pod *Bullfrog Anti-Missile *Chameleon Anti-Missile *Railgun (upcoming) **Railgun Slug (upcoming) Systems: *Hai Corundum Regenerator *Hai Diamond Regenerator *Hai Williwaw Cooling *Quantum Keystone Power: *Boulder Reactor *Geode Reactor *Pebble Core *Sand Cell *Batteries **Hai Chasm Batteries **Hai Fissure Batteries **Hai Gorge Batteries **Hai Ravine Batteries **Hai Valley Batteries Engines: *"Baellie" Atomic Engines *"Basrem" Atomic Thruster and Steering *"Benga" Atomic Thruster and Steering *"Biroo" Atomic Thruster and Steering *"Bondir" Atomic Thruster and Steering *"Bufaer" Atomic Thruster and Steering Hand to Hand: * Pulse Rifle Interspecies Relations The Hai are generally very friendly towards other species, and only ever fight in self-defense (or so they claim). * Humans: The Hai are particularly friendly towards human merchants and explorers because their society has stagnated, and so they look to humans for change and excitement. They have, in fact, made diplomatic contact with the Republic, but this is kept secret from most of humanity so that the Hai can prepare for the slowly increasing human population in their space. * Alphas: The Alphas were the first "humans" to visit the Hai, but because of their cruel and selfish nature, they were banned from Hai space. * Unfettered Hai: The Hai and the Unfettered have an extremely asymmetrical relationship; while the Hai view the Unfettered as an "excited" militia of sorts after being invaded by the Korath, and are apparently indebted to them, the Unfettered perceive the Hai as weak cowards and look down upon them. * Korath: The Hai may or may not feel contempt toward the Korath for their attacks and for changing the Unfettered. * Quarg: While the Hai and the Quarg do not often mention each other to the player, they seem to be on friendly terms, as the Hai have allowed for a Quarg ringworld to be built in their space in Hevru Hai. Hai ships can be seen landing on and taking off from the ringworld, indicating possible trade relations. * Pug: The Hai have not yet interacted with the Pug, as far as we know. * Wanderers: Until the player notifies the Hai of the Wanderers' existence, they are completely unaware of them, but once they are, they are eager to pursue diplomatic relations with the Wanderers and try their best to stop the Unfettered attacks on the Wanderers (but fail because of their peaceful beliefs). * Drak: The Hai are apparently grateful for the Drak because, as they claim, the Drak made them think about the choice of whether to have expansive territory with endless warfare, or a small group of colonies with peace. The Hai chose the latter. Trivia * The Quarg ringworld in Hai space is one of three complete ringworlds the player can visit in the game, and is the only one still controlled by the Quarg. * The Hai originally used human outfits (S-270 Regenerator, S-970 Regenerator, Fusion Reactor, Fission Reactor, Dwarf Core, human batteries, human atomic engines, human anti-missile turrets) because Michael was lazy, but a collaborative effort led by Wrzlprnft and LocalGod created the outfits they use today. Category:Species Category:Hai